The Abortion - Birth Control Frenzy

[TheDebbieDee]

A few months ago, my brother related to me a theory that had been related to him that may explain why conservatives in this country are so hell-bent on restricting abortions and restricting women’s access to all birth control.

The theory is this: Conservatives and wing-nuts are against abortion and birth control because it reduces the number of white babies born. Conservatives are deathly afraid of becoming a minority in this country – they must maintain strength through numbers, no matter what. A wing-nut’s worst fear is to wake up one morning and come to the realization that complection of America has changed.

To make an attempt to limit access to abortions and birth control for white women alone wouldn’t fly – it would be too blatant, too obviously discriminitory, and unconstitutional. Besides, how could such a ban be enforced even if the Supreme Court did't find it unconstitutional?

Thus the wing-nuts must restrict access to abortion and birth control for ALL women, but they don't really care if women of color have abortions or use birth control. Ameri-fascism in the 21st century.

How many of you have heard this same explanation for conservative, wing-nut frenzy about abortion and birth control?

[Book Lover]

1. I've heard it, but I don't believe it's the end-all and be-all

of the anti-choice movement. Plenty of socially conservative folks all throughout our social strata. Sadly, women-hating comes from all areas of society, poor, rich, etc.

[Kraklen]

2. I'm sure most anti-abortionists are racists.

And that some of the smarter (relatively speaking) ones are also proponents of eugenics. But I'll bet the majority of them are just fixated on controlling other people's vaginas.

[yankeedem]

4. When have you ever seen abortion protesters

at a clinic in a minority neighborhood? That answers that question.

[pitohui]

48. seen plenty of them in the 80s

went to a clinic servicing probably 80 percent black clients with a black african doctor (immigrant) for many years

almost always harassers there

the rank and file want to spoil all women's lives

they're equal opportunity spoilers

[ironman202]

5. how did you come to that conclusion?

[Kraklen]

9. Pretty simple really.

Statement #1: most anti-abortionists are conservative republicans.

Statement #2: Republican ideology at its core is wholly racist. They support racist policies. They rally behind racist politicians. They campaign via race baiting, etc.

Conjecture #1: Most anti-abortionists are racist.

[yankeedem]

3. Randi Rhodes hits the mark when she says

"It's all about their precious sperm". Makes sense, if their sperm is "wasted" they have no use. Explains their hate of gays, birth control, and abortion.

[TimeChaser]

6. But not masturbation...

'cause you know, if you follow their logic, that's where you end up.

[Mz Pip]

10. If they don't use it

it won't be wasted, will it. THese fundie freak men should hoard their sperm. Never, never use it unless they want to have a kid. Ever. Anything else would just be a waste.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[iconoclastic cat]

15. Every sperm is useful!

[yankeedem]

25. Was waiting for that

I caught "Spamalot" on B'way couple of months ago, it was good, but if you are a Python fan it was great.

[eleny]

7. I can see a huge underground network for birth control developing

[acmejack]

12. No kidding!

Great button!

[lvx35]

8. Wow, that's a good argument against abortion...

No that the race part is accurate, but abortion is cutting down the popuation of LIBERALS! The conservatives don't have them!;)

Seriously though, I don't think the Republican elite is racist. Word is they are thinking on running George Bush III in 2012 or 2018, and he is half latino:
http://www.freep.com/news/politics/gpbush31_20000731.htm

[noiretextatique]

13. they will certainly use a fascist of color

doesn't mean they are racist to the core.

[puddycat]

16. that's a joke, right? Just because GB III is Latino, he can't be racist?

With that kind of logic, then women can't be anti-feminists, and we know that plenty of right-wing women want to deprive other women of their rights. We know that historically blacks were plantation owners and owned slaves, etc.--they were certainly racists, as are people like Condoleeza Rice who doesn't seem to mind bombing brown babies in Iraq.

[lvx35]

18. huh?

Blacks owned plantation and were racist? Like they believed they were inferior? I don't buy it. I have only met one woman in my life who tried to argue the stance of female inferiority, it was the shortest argument ever, after I told her to shut up if she was so damn inferior to me, and that she must repsect me as the man saying that women were equal! ;) Racism is based on a dream, and these guys are both pragmatic and advanced.

[puddycat]

26. There are lots of extremist fundy women who vote against women

Do you not read the news? Understand the nature of the extremist right-wing fundamentalists in this country? Do you really think those women who are actively seeking to destroy women's rights think themselves equal to men? I believe they GLORY in the fact that they are inferior, becuase that is what their interpretation of the Bible tells them.

Blacks did in fact own Plantations and thought of the blacks they enslaved as inferior, naturally, or they wouldn't own the slaves. Do you think they owned the slaves because they thought of them as equals? That is preposterous. There have always been collaborators with injustice.

[lvx35]

30. Not racist

Blacks did in fact own Plantations and thought of the blacks they enslaved as inferior, naturally, or they wouldn't own the slaves. Do you think they owned the slaves because they thought of them as equals? That is preposterous.

Slave owners always think the slaves inferior, but the key point here is RACE. I doubt a black slave owner thought blacks were inferior. He may have thought Hutus were inferior to Tutsis or something tribal, but its not racial rejudice. I think a lot of people are too hung up on race, when its clearly not a factor to people like Bush.

[puddycat]

34. well actually tribalism greater threat to humanity than racism

Tribalism can infect everyone, and probably does. In times of chaos,
most human groups will fall into tribes of some sort. The knowledge of this makes the fascist's job easier. A knowledge of the existing tribal problems of Africa and the Middle East make us all aware of how hard it is to overcome the pull of tribes.

[lvx35]

46. Oh absolutely.

The Sunni Shi'ite stuff is amazing, as was the conflict in the Balkans under Clinton. Years under a brutal regime, and the first thing people do when it is gone is start killing their neighbor.

[puddycat]

36. I don't think you can really be racist without power

Racists control people, and wield power. True racists in power can be difficult to spot now-a-days--for example, many people feel George Bush isn't "racist" because he is smart enough to pretend not to be. But how much more racist can you be than Bush and his friends?

Unfortunately, many good well-meaning people are too quick to look at surface stuff, like in attacking people who use the "N" word. Its nonsense. If you live in any poor integrated area of a city you know what I mean. White and blacks alike live together, intermarry, work together, die together, and they also use the "N" word quite frequently. The snooty rich in my town attack the poor whites when they do this and call them racist, when in fact the rich snooties are much more likely to be racist because they don't live in integrated neighborhoods (unless you count 3% Asian and 3% Asian Indian as being integrated). This attitude alienates the poor whites who would possibly vote Democrat with the rich snooties, but they are turned OFF by being labelled and attacked by rich liberals who don't know what the hell they are talking about. I only say this because I think Democrats should address this problem. The word "racist" is tossed around and stuck to white people's heads far far too often. Most people have prejudice, but most people are also not racist. That's my poor humble opinion.

[lvx35]

45. Damn, good post!

That cuts to the heart of a lot of things. Its totally true, most people would have have a friend use racial slurs than somebody who doesn't give a rat's ass about you but doesn't use racial terms. That's really important as a factor. Get rid of the PC garbage, and deal with real issues affecting people.
This is one of the things the new democratic party that's emerging now has thrown pretty well out the window, and I'm glad for it!

[lvx35]

20. BTW: these guys may believe in genetic superiority.

Being as they have advanced the author of the Bell Curve to some high position...But they don't tie that genetic superiority to race.

[3waygeek]

21. Apparently,..

Dubya's grandpappy (Prescott Bush the Nazis' US money man) was big on eugenics. * probably picked up some of that.

[lvx35]

24. I'm sure its at least a temptation.

These genetic issues that eugenics pretended to address will be a huge issue in the future, as we now have the human genome mapped and are gaining the power to produce genetically engineered children.

[alarimer]

11. I think they want to control women's independence

It was the Pill that allowed women to have sex whenever they wanted without having to worry about pregnancy. That allowed us to have careers and postpone marriage and basically let us live our lives they way WE wanted, not how society says we should. Right-wingers HATE that. They blame feminism for the loss of "traditional family values" (whatever that means anyway) but I think it goes back a little further, to the invention of the Pill. hell, the Pill probably enabled the feminist movement in the first place.

[Glenda]

28. I think you're right - it's more to control women n/t

[Eloriel]

35. Patriarchal fear and loathing of women,

their sexuality, and jealousy about our ability to give Life. It's ancient, it's visceral, and it's at the core of all attempts to control women and our reproduction, whether by:

* societal sanctions against BEING sexual in the first place (other than with our "owners"): good girl, bad girl double standards that are less prominent in this day and age, but still crop up here and there

* punishment for when we don't abide by their rules, (unwed motherhood and the social sanctions nearly akin to being outcast (in the past) for conceiving, birthing and raising "bastard" children of either sex;

* legislation against out-of-wedlock (unowned) sex, whether adultery or pre-marital, or homosexual

* legislation against abortion and birth control -- again, punishment for our "sexuality," and methods to keep us in check to our "owners"

I think it would be difficult for most people who didn't live thru those bad old days, as I did, when women lived with these double standards of sexuality, these social sanctions (which were SEVERE!!). And if you can't truly get it at a gut level what an illegitimate pregnancy meant in those days -- the shame, humiliation, totally ruined life -- then I wonder if you can get it about the level of desperation some women felt that would drive them to literally put their very lives at risk, real immediate risk, seeking an illegal abortion. After all these years, I can still tap into that hysteria and desperation, that primal, all-encompassing fear that so many women felt about whether or not they were pregnant.

[Nobody]

39. And if you were a servant in the 1800s

If the master of the house or a son of the house wanted to have his way with you, you could not say no. And if you did anyway, the son or the father would dismiss you without a character. This meant you would never get another job as servant ever again. And no one would believe you when you were telling the truth because gentlemen don't force themselves on maids. And a respectable maid doesn't know about these things.

You were stuck between two equally bad choices. To say no, be lied about and not believed and lose your job or to let the man (or be forced, amounts to the same thing) and keep your job for as long as it takes before he gets bored or you start showing.

Pregnant? You're dismissed without a character. Either way, you're fucked both literally and figuratively.

[alarimer]

51. I can't imagine having to go back to those times

It frightens me, though I grew up in the 70s and 80s and never really knew what that must have been like.

I think I must be the sort of woman that fundies love to hate: educated, unmarried at 37 and pretty much in control of my own life. I am responsible for the downfall of society (according to them).

[Lars39]

14. I remember this being discussed quite a while back,

about keeping track of the race of those refused BC pills, to see if there was anything to this theory.
I really don't put anything past this bunch at all. :(

[meow2u3]

17. If they're so dead set against birth control, try telling the men

to keep it in their pants! How about a bit of consistency, boys?

[converted_democrat]

19. Being from a right wing family, I can tell you that is spot on.

All of the male adults in my family used to gather around the Christmas Tree, on Christmas Day, and discuss how the other races were procreating faster than we were. The men would sit around the tree and talk about how all the problems of the world were because of brown people, and all the women would sit in the kitchen gossip about people they didn't like at church, or people they have held grudges against since high school. Yep, that was Christmas in my house, sad huh? Thank god I got out and married a liberal. I am like the only happy person in my entire family. My Mom and Dad are coming around, but it's taken them alot of time.

[iconoclastic cat]

27. Are you freakin' serious?

Tell me you just made that up. Please.

[converted_democrat]

33. I wish I were kidding. No joke.

I came from a extremely fucked up household, but they still think they are the "normal" ones, and I'm the one with issues. I can't even tell you how much I have spent on my mental health, because of growing up in that environment.

on edit:
The first time I asked my Mom about sex, she told my father, and my father said " Shut up and don't ever talk like that again or I'll sew you hole shut." I mentioned once that I wanted to be a model (I'm not a bad looking girl) My father said that models were sluts and he would break my nose to make sure I would be too ugly to ever actually do it. Yea, that was my childhood. I can't tell you how blessed I was to get away and meet my husband.

[benddem]

22. the thing is

though...if Abortion and birth control are eliminated there will also be more black and brown babies. So if that's their plan...it will fail.
70% of all anti abortion protestors are men
100% of them will never be pregnant.

This is control of women!!!!

[TheDebbieDee]

29. Yes, but with the reduction of social services......

that many poor families of color need to help raise the child, many poor women of color will go shopping for back-alley butchers to give them abortions.

BTW, I read on this site in the last couple of weeks that birth control was illegal in this country until the 50s or 60s.

[TimeChaser]

31. Is that accurate?

I figured they'd be mostly men...

[DanCa]

23. It takes two to make a baby .

And I "firmly" believe that if a man wants to stop abortion all he has to do is live by abstience only. Other than that he wants to stake his "dominance" over another human being and that is there wrong. And correct me if I am wrong but I thought you need a "License to practice medicine" in this country?

[Warren DeMontague]

32. Control is a big part of it...

Occasionally you will hear some butthead like Pat Buchanan go off on how Europe (meaning- white people in Europe) is "dying out" due to birth control... but mostly, if you listen to the rantings of anti-choicers, even some of the ones who show up here- and scratch the surface, usually they are obsessed with "punishing" people (mostly women) for having sex.

It's mostly about control and dictating to other people how they should live their lives, which seems to be an all-to-common human pastime.

[gollygee]

37. I got into an argument with an abortion opponent in college

she kept going on about how abortion is murder, then told me *BUT* she drove a friend to have an abortion once because the baby was going to be black.

Enough said.

[DanCa]

41. wow

I wonder what carl Jung would say.

[Jade Fox]

38. Conservatives are terrified of female sexuality....

though your theory sounds plausible too, I think it's secondary.

Conservatives want women to have to "pay" if they "play".

[cynatnite]

40. It's all about sex

It's that dirty little word that gets fundies up in a frenzy. They view abortion and birth control as giving permission and encouraging people to have sex outside of marriage. They use that who bible argument about sex is supposed to be only for propagation and not for enjoyment.

[TheDebbieDee]

42. "Sex is supposed to be only for propagation.....

and not for enjoyment."

If you believe in God, then why wouldn't you believe that God made sex feel so good so that people don't stop doing it. Therefore, sex is a gift to humankind as well as a way to guarantee the propagation the species.

And if you don't believe in God, then why wouldn't you believe that people should do it because it feels good? And consequently, sex is a gift to humankind as well as a way to guarantee the propagation the species.

[cynatnite]

43. I didn't say I believed it...

I'm saying that's what I think the RW nutjobs think. I grew up in that environment and sex was always a dirty word. My christian right mother refused to get me birth control because she said it was giving permission. I wasn't asking her for permission, so boyfriend bought condoms instead.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

44. Now that gals can have worry free sex, if you're a poor performer, you

just might not get the girl. Really, we ladies can now have sex for fun, (just like the guys) and that can put pressure on the guys who just want to get their jollies.

They actually have to be aware of a woman's desires and needs in the bedroom. Just another stressor on those poor RW'er dudes. MKJ

[JerseygirlCT]

50. Not just sex -- women and sex

they cannot control procreation unless they control women. Bottom line.

[pitohui]

47. heard it and believe it

irony is, the educated white woman will always be able to get the abortion in puerto rico

it is the poor minority woman who will be forced into child-bearing

classic law of unintended consequences

no one said conservatives were smart, that's why they can't spell potatoe

[noiretextatique]

49. they are obsessed with controlling women

and as a few have mentioned, terrified of female sexuality...unloosed.
i do believe FEAR is at the heart of the issue, as it is with most unsavory behaviors and attitudes.

i do believe conservatives, in particular, are more afraid of the great brown hordes, and i believe that's because they KNOW they support policies (like the war in iraq) that hurt brown people...they are afraid of PAYBACK.

you know when american slavery/racism became especially brutal? when slave populations began to outnumber the white population and white slaveholders were terrified of being slaughtered in their beds...because, contrary to their self-serving myths, they knew those held as slaves did not love being treated like animals. fear is what made racism as bad as it was/is in this country.

perhpas you're on to something about anti-choice folks nto being as obsessed about women of color having abortions.